Gazette

DEATHS

Campus Suffers Loss of Many Over Break

James E. B. Breslin, professor of English and acting chair of the art
practice department, died suddenly on Saturday, Jan. 6, of a heart attack. He
was 60.

Meticulous as a scholar, persuasive in his sense of the excitement and urgency
of his subject, ironic, edgy and elegant as a writer, he practiced the art of
criticism with daring, freedom and independence.

Born in Brooklyn, Breslin received his BA from Brooklyn College in 1957, his
MA in English from the University of North Carolina in 1959 and five years
later his PhD in American literature from the University of Minnesota.

He joined the Berkeley English department in '64, bringing with him a passion
for the revolutionary movements in American literature and painting that had
most radically shaken up ideas about what art is and can do.

In 1994, when its future was in doubt because of a budget crisis, Breslin
became chair of art practice, championing Berkeley's tradition of innovation in
the visual arts.

Breslin's first book, published in 1970, was a full-length study of the poet
William Carlos Williams. In 1983 he wrote, "From Contemporary to Modern:
American Poetry 1945-65," a breakthrough study of mid-century poets.

In "Mark Rothko: A Biography," his most recent and best-known book, Breslin
turned his attention to mid-century American painting at its most critical
moment, the emergence of abstract expressionism.

The book was greeted by Hilton Kramer in the New York Times Book Review as
"the best life of an American painter that has yet been written."

At the time of his death, Breslin was working on a biography of John Coltrane,
the great jazz saxophonist who emerged from 1940s bop to define the
possibilities of contemporary jazz.

Like his subjects, Breslin was a man who "reinvented himself" by taking on the
lives and works of revolutionary artists dominant in the New York cultural
scene of the 1950s.

He is survived by his wife, Ramsay, and daughters Jennifer of Lake County;
Susannah of Oakland; and Nora of Berkeley.

Memorial donations may be made to the Department of Art Practice or to the
American Heart Association.

Walter Horn, professor emeritus and art historian, died of pneumonia
Dec. 26 in his Point Richmond home after a distinguished career as the first
art history professor in the UC system.

Born in Germany in 1908, Horn came to the U.S. in 1938, joined the Army and
served under General Patton.

After the war, he worked as a military investigator of stolen art treasures
and even secured the recovery of the coronation regalia of the Holy Roman
Empire from Nazi treasure troves.

Horn joined the Berkeley faculty in 1938. He published extensively, including
a three-volume study of monastic community life in the ninth century, was
influential in the establishment of the University Art Museum.

He was also a trustee of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Horn is survived by his wife, Alberta Parker Horn; son Michael of Chicago;
daughters Rebecca of Salt Lake City and Robin Reid of Bend, Ore.; and grandson
Matthew of San Anselmo.

Donations in his name can be sent to the Walter Horn Scholarship Fund,
Department of History of Art.

Arthur Frederic Kip, professor emeritus and an early leader in
discovering the fundamental physical properties of semiconductors, died of a
heart attack Dec. 2 at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. He was 85.

Kip, a Berkeley PhD in physics ('39) who joined the faculty in 1951, worked in
the field of experimental solid state physics.

For many years he led a research group in a series of fundamental experiments
that examined the interactions of matter with microwave radiation.

The results of these experiments are to be found in close to 100 papers
published in physics journals.

In the 1950s he and his laboratory colleagues exploited this expertise to make
some of the first measurements of the basic properties of semiconductors only a
few years after the discovery of transistors.

He also made important contributions in the areas of cyclotron resonance and
electron spin resonance of metals.

Later in his career he took a keen interest in university affairs,
participating in major committees of the Academic Senate.

He subsequently served for two years as chair of the Berkeley division
(1966-68) and for one year as chair of the systemwide Academic Council
(1973-74).

At his retirement he was honored with the Berkeley Citation in recognition of
his distinguished contributions to the campus.

Kip was an enthusiastic and well-loved teacher, offering large lecture classes
and training 26 doctoral students. He also wrote a widely used introductory
college physics textbook,"Fundamentals of Electricity and Magnetism"
(McGraw-Hill, 1962).

Kip is survived by his wife of 51 years, Joan (Hill) Kip; daughter Jennifer
Kip Bier of Albany, Calif.; son Jonathan of Los Angeles; grandchildren Adam
Bier and Megan Kip; and two sisters, Elizabeth Roach of San Diego and Margaret
Nichols of Monterey, Mass.

Shiro Kobayashi, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering and
former holder of the FANUC Chair in Mechanical Systems, died Dec. 20 of cancer
at Alta Bates Medical Center.

Kobayashi, an expert in manufacturing systems and metal forming, was 71. He
lived in El Cerrito.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Kobayashi came to Berkeley
from Japan in 1956 to obtain both his MS and PhD in mechanical engineering. He
was immediately hired as a lecturer in the department and in 1961 joined the
faculty.

His research centered on computer-aided analysis of problems in manufacturing
and the properties and behavior of formed metals and alloys. He retired in
1991, after publishing extensively and winning many awards for his work.

Kobayashi was the first holder of the FANUC Chair, which was endowed in 1989
by a $500,000 gift from FANUC, Ltd., a Japanese manufacturer of factory
automation machines and systems.

The chair is designated to support work in mechanical systems, such as those
for manufacturing, robotics, biomedical applications, information storage and
processing, and other needs of high technology.

Kobayashi is survived by his wife, Suzue, and family in Japan.

G. Lawrence Rarick, professor emeritus of human biodynamics, died Dec.
15 at his home in Berkeley.

Age 84, Rarick was the author of six books and helped to change how society
regards the disabled, particularly children.

His work indicated such children can achieve considerable levels of physical
fitness and often share the same motor skills as other children.

During his career, Rarick was also on the faculty at Wichita State University
and the University of Wisconsin.

He was also a consultant to the foundation that sponsors the Special Olympics,
the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, for 15 years.

Rarick is survived by his wife, Mary, of Berkeley; sons Thomas of San
Francisco and David of Minneapolis; daughter Janet of Houston; sister Lois
Cooke of Fullerton; and a grandson.

Steps are under way to implement a U.S. Department of Transportation
regulation that mandates random drug and alcohol testing for a small group of
employees required to have commercial drivers licenses as part of their
university related responsibilities.

The regulations went into effect Jan. 1, 1995, for agencies with 50 or more
covered employees and Jan. 1, 1996, for agencies with fewer than 50 covered
employees.

Current employees are part of the pool of individuals covered by the
regulations. Employees transferring into positions covered by the rule will be
required to undergo substance abuse testing before their transfers are final.

Once transferred into the designated position, they too will be part of the
pool for random testing.

Additionally, the law requires that individuals applying to the university for
positions covered by the regulations must identify previous employees for whom
the applicant was a commercial motor vehicle driver.

Before a job offer is confirmed, individuals must pass a pre- employment
substance abuse test unless the waiver criteria, as specified by law, are met.

An implementation planning team composed of representatives from Personnel,
Parking and Transportation Services and CARE has to date identified employees
in classifications in the following departments as those impacted:
Environmental Health and Safety, Richmond Field Station, Parking and
Transportation, Child Care Services, and Office of Physical Resources

An orientation program for supervisors and employees is currently being
planned. Impacted employees will be notified by their supervisors and given
relevant information.

Nov. 30, Report of Authorization of New Degree, Master of
Urban Design, from Carol T. Christ, The Vice Chancellor and Provost.

AWARDS

Robert B. Ruddell, professor of education, is the 1995-96 recipient of
the Oscar S. Causey Award. The award is the National Reading Conference's
highest honor, given in recognition of significant lifetime contributions to
research and theory.

Charles Townes has been selected by the Optical Society of America to
receive the 1996 Frederic Ives Medal/Quinn Endowment.

Townes is being honored for five decades of major contributions to the field
of optics.

STAFF ENRICHMENT

Employee Development and Training

For more information, for copies of the 1995-96 Employee Development and
Training catalog or for information on how to enroll in classes, call
642-8134.

New Horizons For Current Employees

Feb. 1, 8:30 am-noon.

Are you interested in an upward or lateral job change or have you thought of
working in another department? If your answer is yes, this class may provide
the answers you need to take advantage of new employment opportunities for
current campus employees.

Manager as Career Coach: Developing Staff to Their Full Potential

Feb. 2 and 9, 8:30 am-noon.

The employee is expected to be a self-advocate for his or her own career
development. There are, however, many advantages to managers assisting their
staff with career development planning: better use of employee skills,
increased employee motivation and more time for managers as a result of
delegating developmental tasks to staff. The goal of this workshop is to offer
training, support, resources and hands-on career coaching experience for
managers on campus.

New Employee Orientation

Feb. 6, 8:30 am-noon.

This program provides an opportunity for new employees to learn about the
University of California and the campus, meet new employees from other
departments and obtain information.